“open” so that any product filtering into it
will pass through or will be observed easily.
The openness feature will also enable easy
and effective cleaning.
The condition of the facility itself should
exclude contaminating factors, such as
insects, rodents, and birds. Any defects dis-
covered should be reported and corrected
immediately.
Cleaning of low-moisture food manufacturing plants
Cleaning in the manufacturing area of
low-moisture food plants should be accom-
plished daily. Some of the cleaning should be
done while the plant is in operation to ensure
that the facility remains tidy, but most of the
equipment cleaning (especially equipment
interiors) should be done while the manufac-
turing portion is not in operation. Some of
the required cleaning can be combined with
routine maintenance operations. Easily
stored, conveniently located equipment
encourages employees to accomplish the
cleaning necessary to control infestation.
Dry cleaningis a preferred method for
low-moisture food processing plants
(Umland et al., 2003). When water is intro-
duced to a dry system, bacterial growth
starts where water does not dry or all mate-
rial is not removed from cracks and crevices.
Most of the cleaning equipment is easy to
use. Hand brooms, push brooms, and dust
and wet mops provide the basic equipment
used for cleaning. Brushes, brooms, and
dustpans remove the heaviest debris accumu-
lations and function well on semi-smooth
surfaced floors. Dust mops provide a more
rapid mans of cleaning on smooth floor sur-
faces with low levels of dust accumulation.
In many production areas, vacuuming pro-
vides the most acceptable means of equip-
ment cleaning. Vacuum cleaning provides
one of the most thorough methods of clean-
ing because it removes light and moderate
accumulations of debris from both smooth
and irregular surfaces. The dust is contained
and does not require a secondary means of
collection. Smaller operations can more
effectively utilize portable vacuum equip-
ment, whereas larger facilities can benefit
from an installed vacuum system. Central-
ized debris collection and disposal is more
convenient with additional access to diffi-
cult-to-reach areas. In large storage areas
with nonporous floors, a mechanical scrub-
ber or sweeper should be used to more effi-
ciently and effectively maintain a clean
environment.
Precleaning of utensils and food equip-
ment permits the removal of debris to facili-
tate further cleaning. Some heavily soiled
surfaces should be presoaked to facilitate
cleaning. Precleaning should involve the
scraping of debris on equipment and utensils
over a waste disposal unit, scupper, or
garbage receptacle or the debris should be
removed in a warewashing machine with a
prewash cycle. With heavy soil, utensils and
equipment should be preflushed, scrubbed
with abrasives, or presoaked.Wet cleaningis
conducted to remove completely loosened
organic soils through manual or mechanical
operations.
A compressed air line is widely used to
remove debris from equipment and other dif-
ficult-to-reach areas. Although Mills and
Pedersen (1990) did not consider this
method for cleaning facilities such as flour-
mills, they recognize that it provides easy
cleaning of inaccessible areas in plant facili-
ties and equipment. Furthermore, using
compressed air is safer than depending on
employees to work from a ladder with a
brush. However, compressed air disperses
dust from a specific location to a less con-
fined area and may spread an infestation if it
exists. Compressed air should be incorpo-